Heart of Worship

Hi all!

I don't really have a verse to go with my topic thought there are several throughout the New Testament (and Old) that cover aspects of worship, from singing and making melody in your heart to being a cheerful giver.

Tonight I went to Overland Park and they hosted the Heartland service. They do this service every fifth Sunday and different churches throughout the Heartland. The singing is always top-notch. The songs were very moving and I sat there with goosebumps (that had nothing to do with the temperature) throughout starting with an old spiritual I don't even know the name of but we sang Amen, while the leader filled in the rest. My heart took flight. Then we sang one about the holiness of Christ and the song director (the one who leads us in our Christmas and Easter chorus) asked us to sing the song, and then take a moment to consider the holiness of Christ then sing the chorus again. Wow. It brought tears to my eyes.

And I realized that was what true worships should be like. True worship is awash with an unidentifiable emotion, passion and righteousness that we can only attain through such communications with the Lord.

Yes there is LOVE involved. But love is not an emotion. It is a choice. Sometimes it's not the easy choice. But when talking about loving our Lord, it is always the right one.

And that leads to HOPE. Hope of an eternity to sing His praises, to bask in the Light of His presence. What could be better?

To have that we must have TRUST. Trusting Him to keep His promises. Trusting His direction in our lives. Trusting that He will never fail us, even when we don't understand. Even when we can only see the step we are on and sometimes not that clearly, that when we take that next step He will be there to steady us.

All this brings about JOY! Such joy that we shout it out on the rooftops. Spreading the good news! Sharing the secret hope that gives us joy. But again, joy is not an emotion but a state of being for the Christian whose eyes are fastened on the Savior.

All of these mingle and combine in an amazing mix during the worship service.

Then the preacher got up and started preaching and could this man preach! Such PASSION in him as he delivered a message from God's Word. He took a story that we all know well about the Israelites in captivity and God's deliverance. He took that story and shook it up and poured it out and shined light on it from a totally different angle and suddenly the parallel was so relevant to our lives today. I'm still amazed by the insight.

It was so refreshing to leave energized, renewed, restored. Every worship service should be like that. To know that God is there and enjoying our joy and love being poured out at His feet.

Have a wonderful week and let's keep the worship going. I believe worshipping God should be 24/7/365. Every second of every minute of every hour of every day should belong to God. And when it does, we want to share it. And that is as it should be.